The Returns to Parental Health: Evidence from Indonesia

Dara Lee Luca and David Bloom

No 25304, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper investigates the economic returns to parental health. To account for potential endogeneity between parental health and child outcomes, we leverage longitudinal microdata from Indonesia to estimate individual fixed effects models. Our results show that the economic returns to parental health are high. We show that maternal health not only significantly affects her children’s health, but is also intrinsically linked to her spouse’s labor market status and earnings. Paternal health appears to be more linked to child schooling outcomes, especially for girls. When both parents are in poor health, the negative effects on their children are compounded. Additionally, the consequences of poor parental health are enduring. Longer-run effects of poor parental health manifest in a lower likelihood of high school completion, fewer years of schooling, and poorer adult health.

JEL-codes: I10 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lma and nep-sea
Note: CH EH LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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